


Time Erases

by kwillpleasedont



Category: VROMANCE (Band)
Genre: Best Friends, Chandong and Hyejin date briefly, Enlistment, Growing Up, Hyunseok moves to Boston, It's never explicit but Yongsun dates Hyunseok briefly, Janghyun and Wheein are Chandong and Hyunseok's kids, M/M, Photographer Chandong, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 18:49:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13487565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kwillpleasedont/pseuds/kwillpleasedont
Summary: Goodbyes don't have to be sad,Scars will form but time will heal>I'm Fine - Vromance





	Time Erases

_7  
_ Chandong and Hyunseok are best friends. Have been since practically forever. They do everything together; read, sing, play sports. They're neighbors so Chandong's parents often find his bed empty only for Hyunseok's dad to find out there are two kids in Hyunseok's bed.

And really, can you blame Chandong? It's only been a few weeks since Hyunseok's mom passed away and Chandong wants Hyunseok to know that he'll always have Chandong. Chandong hates when Hyunseok cries, it makes his own waterworks start up. Chandong wants Hyunseok to know that he's there for him, that he always will be.

 _"Even when we're apart,"_  Chandong tells him, a hand on Hyunseok's shoulder, as they stand in the middle of the crowded airport,  _"I'll always be with you. You'll always have me."_  

Sure Chandong is sad, his heart is practically breaking, but he wants what's best for Hyunseok and his dad, and if Hyunseok's dad thinks moving to America is what's best for them, then Chandong will see them off with a smile.

Only when Hyunseok has turned his back does he let his head fall. He doesn't want Hyunseok to remember him like this, he wants Hyunseok to remember his as the strong and confident friend who held him in his time of need, the shoulder he could always cry on, the friend always there for him, even when they're so far apart.

He doesn't realize that Hyunseok has ran back to him until he sees Hyunseok's most prized possession, a red robot toy from his mother, being held out in front of him. Chandong just stares, tears in his eyes he refuses to let fall. He isn't sure what Hyunseok is trying to say - until he pushes the toy into Chandong's hands. It tingles, a burning sensation spreading through his body and taking root in his heart.

 _"You'll always have me too."_ Hyunseok says before running back to his dad's side with a sad smile.

The weight of his parents' hands on his shoulders is crushing, unbearable even. He sends Hyunseok off with a smile through his tears and a heart heavier than his parents' hands. Hyunseok will always have Chandong.

 _18_  
Chandong goes to the military as soon as he can. He wants to get it done quickly. He graduates high school in a whirlwind of parental tears and familial congratulations and as soon as he can, he enlists.

Time passes slowly, as it has for the past eleven years. Like a bad drama, he lost contact with Hyunseok a few months after he moved to America, he guesses he was foolish to assume that Hyunseok, with his vivacious personality and burning curiosity and too-loud-to-ignore laugh, would not make new friends, that he would still need Chandong.

Chandong will be the first to admit that he misses Hyunseok, but this is good for him. Chandong will happily live with the soul crushing radio silence if it means that Hyunseok is happy and healthy.

The letters stopped coming around the same time the phone calls did. Silly little letters with scribbled drawings in the corners and spilled tea on the edges that made his heart seven year old heart soul soar disappeared as quickly as they came. Chandong has them all tucked away in a safe, small little box that held the brand new matching shoes he and Hyunseok got together when they were seven. Hyunseok always made sure to send pictures with the letters, silly photos he made his dad take to send back to Chandong.

 _"So you don't forget me,"_ Hyunseok wrote in the first letter, _"So you'll always remember what I look like."_

The box Chandong sends back to his mother and father when he enlists has a picture of an eight year old Hyunseok smiling brightly all the way in the states resting carefully on top of his clothes.

 _25_  
Chandong gets his first girlfriend at 23. She's a confident, ass-kicking woman named Hyejin with short hair and an even shorter temper. She's free spirited, not easy to tie down, seemingly having an affair with freedom behind Chandong's back. 

Chandong wishes she were less lovable, wishes he could change how he feels. By 25 Chandong has come to terms with who he likes, who he can give his love to, and he just doesn't think it can be Hyejin. She doesn't deserve a man who can't make decisions, that goes back on his word. Hyejin deserves someone like their mutual friend Hyunkyu; a man who's just as wild and crazy as her with a full heart that always has room for more. She deserves someone like her high school senior, Byuli, who always looks out for her, cares for her, does the simple things Chandong should be doing.

She isn't happy and Chandong wishes this was easier. He wants his heart to be bursting at the seams but still saving a spot for Hyejin, he wants to be able to have fun with the simple things in life. He wants to treat her the way she deserves to be treated, but he can't. There's something, someone, stopping him.

He can't figure out who it is until the day he and Hyejin break up two years later. They're walking home after a dinner date (Hyejin's car won't start and Chandong has no idea how to fix it and Byuli isn't free until this weekend to fix it for her), cutting through a tunnel, when she breaks the news to him. She's leaving for America in a few weeks, something about a friend with a celestial sounding name that goes to school over there with a Korean boyfriend she'll be staying with and she's breaking up with him. She can't do long distance and she doesn't think Chandong is willing to move to America with her amidst the crumbling relationship they're both trapped in.

Chandong would do it though, he'd move to America in a heartbeat with Hyejin. Chandong has no idea if Hyunseok is even still in Boston, it's been 18 years since he moved there so Chandong wouldn't be surprised if he jumped ship somewhere along the way. Maybe he went to school halfway across the country, leaving Boston behind. But, Hyejin is moving to Boston to visit her interstellar friend and her handsome Korean boyfriend and Chandong would hop on the first plane with her to America if he knew Hyunseok would be waiting there for him when he stepped out of that plane.

The couple ring she presses back into his palm burns, tingles like the red robot did.

 _28_  
Chandong finally has a stable job that he enjoys, he bounced around from minimum wage job to the next when he was with Hyejin, but now he's proud to say he can hold his own. He opened up a small photography shop down the road from his apartment. People come in day after day for their portraits; couples, students, sometimes even whole families.

He loves photography, it captures beautiful moments, beautiful smiles, beautiful people. Some days, when he gets distracted, when the shop is busy enough, he thinks photography fills the whole in his heart. His parents don't nag him about getting married like most do, but everyday he can feel it, there's something missing in his heart that photography just can't fill on its own.

It's a sunny Tuesday morning and he's only opened the shop two hours ago so he wasn't expecting anyone to be banging the door down, but he's surprised at the people walking around the shop. They get lost in the frames and photos of people with faces they don't recognize and Chandong can't hide his smile from behind the counter.

The bell above the door rings a cheerful melody as a handsome young man steps through the door. Chandong only glances at him for a moment before he's pulled aside by a woman with her twin daughters, requesting a family photo. He shouts a greeting at the man over the noise and laughter filtering through the shop as he sets up the camera for the camera, adjusting their poses.

As the day creeps on people come and go, keeping Chandong so busy he can barely keep track of anything. The shop does well but it isn't usually this popular. Must be his lucky day, he supposes. No sign of rain in the sky, good business, and the handsome man from earlier is still loitering around the store; so yeah, it's a good day.

It only seems to get better, as he begins to pack things up he sees the man looking over at him. He opens his mouth to tell the man he'll be closing soon when the man cuts him off, apologizing for lingering for so long, asking him if he could to please take his photo. A smile graces Chandong's face as he agrees.

He sits the man down in the chair that rests in front of the plain background and tells him how to pose. A simple forward facing shot with the man's beautiful smile passing through the camera and straight into Chandong's heart. He doesn't charge the man afterward, although he knows he should. One could consider this Chandong's terrible attempt at flirting (that's how he flirted with Hyejin. H asked if he could take her photo when he saw her out, sitting under a tree reading, and for some reason Hyejin thought it was cute enough to ask him on a date).

Chandong kind of hoped it would work again as he sent the man off with his new photo.

 _30_  
Chandong hasn't seen the man since he left the store that Tuesday night and over time Chandong has forgotten him. The photo framed on his wall he developed from the negative serves as a reminder, but just barely. He though it when he first saw the man smile, but there was something about that smile that was familiar. Something about it sent him back to his childhood, clouding his mind with memories of a head resting on his shoulder at recess, of spending the night in a bed that wasn't his own but that was just as warm and loving, of a red robot.

The click of the shutter goes off as Chandong photographs a lovely young couple just beyond his viewfinder. The little bell sounds its chime as he continues taking a few more photos of the couple. He says his greeting, not looking up from the camera. When he's satisfied with the photos he's taken, he rings the couple's frames up and tells them with a smile that the photos will be ready for pick up in a day, asking them to return tomorrow.

He writes down the couple's names and the amount of photos they bought in his order book when someone above his hunched over figure clears their throat. Chandong drops his pencil in surprise, looking up to see the man from two years ago, the one with the familiar smile. Chandong hasn't seen this man in two years, but it feels like only yesterday this man was loitering around his shop, shyly waiting to ask for a photo.

 _"Do you...remember me?"_  His voice is still as deep as it was, a warm feeling blossoming in Chandong's stomach.

 _"Of course,"_  Chandong laughs,  _"Haven't seen you in a few years, but I remember you."_

 _"No, no. I mean,"_  the man breaks off and shakes his head a little,  _"Chanie, it's me."_  

Chandong's brow furrows in confusion. Only Hyunseok called him Chanie and he hasn't heard from Hyunseok since Hyunseok sent that last letter when he was eight. If this man is trying to imply that he's Lee Hyunseok...Chandong shakes his head, this is ridiculous. This man isn't Hyunseok.

The man reaches his hand across the counter and gently holds Chandong's hand in his own. Chandong remembers how this felt; when they were seven and used to hold hands on their way to school, Chandong remembers the feeling of Hyunseok's hand even if it's been 23 years since he's touched the other. That smile spread across his face and Chandong knows now why it seemed so familiar, because he's seen it before. Seen it on Hyunseok's smiling seven year old face, seen it in the photos he used to send.

Chandong lets Hyunseok's hand go and rounds the counter before he can even think about it. His arms are around Hyunseok's broad shoulders and his face is tucked into his shoulder, fighting back those tears he shed when he was seven. Hyunseok is finally back in his arms, after all these years, and he plans to savor the gift for as long as it lasts.

 _34_  
Hyunseok proposed not long after they reconnected. He has officially moved back to Korea and into Chandong's apartment that was just big enough to house two. It was a morning just like any other with Chandong making Hyunseok breakfast while he slept. He had turned around to grab the eggs from the refrigerator and jumped back in surprise when he saw Hyunseok, clad in the pajamas Chandong woke up this morning, down on one knee with a velvet box in his hands.

The ceremony was small; just them and their parents. Chandong's mother had always joked they were soulmates, Hyunseok's father saying it was about time. Their vows were as sweet and simple as the ceremony was.

_"I'll always be with you, you'll always have me."_

_"You'll always have me too."_

_76_  
The routine beep of the heart monitor Hyunseok is hooked up to echoes in Chandong's head. It's late at night and Hyunseok is asleep, leaving Chandong to his own devices. He stares out the window, holding Hyunseok's hand as tight as he can; admittedly that isn't very tight as time has withered away his strength significantly, but he just needs Hyunseok to know he's there with him. He needs Hyunseok to know he isn't alone. That he hasn't been alone since they met and nothing with take them away from each other.

Chandong knows Hyunseok's time is limited. He's sick, it's something everyone's had to come to terms with. It was to be expected really, that one of them would fall ill, they're getting older, things are getting harder to do on their own. It's the natural progression of life.

The kids had stopped by earlier, Janghyun crying his poor little heart out with Wheein's hand on his shoulder. Wheein had cried too, when Janghyun had left to get some water, she sat down next to Chandong, rested her head on his shoulder, and cried quietly. Chandong wishes he could shelter them from this pain, he had gone through this pain some time ago when his own parents died, Hyunseok as well with his father, so Chandong knows how much it will hurt them when Hyunseok passes.

It is inevitable. Chandong knows full well that Hyunseok will pass and the sun will still rise tomorrow. That he will still continue on. That Wheein and Janghyun will have to go through this a second time when he himself passes. It hurts, facing the reality that he will have to say goodbye to Hyunseok one more time, this time for good. After this night he will never have to say another goodbye to Hyunseok.

He looks down at Hyunseok when he feels him squeeze his hand. He has a dazed smile on his face, hand gently intertwined with Chandong's, but Chandong knows he's in pain. 

"Where are the kids?" Hyunseok asks, ending the question with a coughing fit. Chandong gently rests his free hand on Hyunseok's chest.

"Janghyun is down in the chapel I think and Wheein went to the bar." Chandong laughs, Hyunseok matching it. The too-loud-to-ignore laugh he's had since childhood making an appearance, brightening Chandong's mood just a bit.

The beeping of the heart monitor begins to slow down.

"Even when we're apart, I'll always be with you. You'll always have me." Hyunseok breathes out with difficulty. 

"I know." Chandong nods, looking Hyunseok in his eyes so Hyunseok knows he means it. "You'll always have me too." 

Hyunseok squeezes his hand and closes his eyes. The monitor slows even more and Chandong looks out the window again, fruitlessly counting stars to distract himself. When the beeping stops, singing a sickeningly sad song of a flatline, Chandong looks back to the bedside table.

A vase of flowers from Wheein and Janghyun and the shiny red robot that looks brand new.


End file.
